Liquid treatment apparatus

ABSTRACT

The invention provides a liquid treatment apparatus such as a reverse osmosis apparatus wherein a portion of an inlet liquid permeates through a filter or a membrane e.g. to provide freshwater from saltwater. The apparatus comprises a pump which provides the necessary pressure of the liquid to drive the permeation process, and a recovery unit which transfers pressure of a residue quid to the inlet liquid. The pump and the recovery unit are driven at synchronous and variable speed to control the output and thereby e.g. to adjust for fouling of the filter or membrane. The invention further provides methods of controlling the synchronous speed, e.g. based on a pressure or based on the consumption of the produced liquid.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is entitled to the benefit of and incorporates byreference essential subject matter disclosed in International PatentApplication No. PCT/DK2007/000065 filed on Feb. 8, 2007 and DanishPatent Application No. PA 2006 00193 filed Feb. 10, 2006.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a liquid treatment apparatuscomprising:

-   -   a separation structure comprising a membrane, an inlet for        receiving an inlet liquid, a first outlet for delivering a first        liquid which has not passed through the membrane, and a second        outlet for delivering a second liquid which has passed through        the membrane,    -   a displacement pump adapted to supply an amount of inlet liquid        to the separation structure proportional to the rotation of a        pump element, and    -   a pressure recovery unit adapted to drain an amount of first        liquid from the separation structure proportional to the        rotation of a recovery element.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Devices in which a liquid substance passes through a membrane arecommonly used for separating substances of a liquid composition. Inconnection with water treatment, such devices are used for desalinationpurposes by separation of dissolved salts from water, and for waterpurification in general e.g. by separation of contaminants such asbacteria and virus from water. Similar devices are used for removingliquid from fruit juice to provide a concentrate thereof and in generalfor removing substances from a liquid or for concentrating substances ina liquid.

In general, the separation structure receives a liquid compositioncomprising various substances, in the following referred to as inletliquid, and delivers two different liquids each having differentcontents of one of more substances. Certainly, both of these twodifferent liquids may be valuable. Often, however, one of the twoliquids is a desired liquid, and the other one is to be disposed of. Todistinguish the two liquids, the following description will be based onthe term “the first liquid” for the liquid which has not passed throughthe membrane, and “the second liquid” for the liquid which has passedthrough the membrane.

In general, it is desired that as much liquid as possible permeatesthrough the membrane. This may be achieved by increasing the pressuredifference across the membrane, i.e. by increasing the pressure of theinlet liquid to a point which is close to a maximum limit prescribed forthe membrane. In a desalination plant working in accordance with theprinciples of reverse osmosis, the inlet water (saltwater) is typicallypressurised to approximately 60-70 bar depending upon the saltconcentration. At this pressure, the saltwater enters a separationstructure with a reverse osmosis membrane which is permeable to purewater. Since the utilization rate is typically 25-35%, 65-75% of thesaltwater is rejected from the system as a residual product of theprocess (the first fluid). This rejected water has a higher saltconcentration than the received saltwater and will in the following bereferred to as brine. During returning of the brine, it undergoes apressure drop of 60-70 bar and the energy thereby released correspondsto 65-75 percent of the energy which has been consumed by the pump whichinitially raised the pressure of the saltwater. In order to recover theenergy which is released during the returning of the seawater, apressure recovery unit is often inserted after the separation structure.

A reverse osmosis system is shown e.g. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,441.

The pressure recovery unit not only recovers the pressure and thus savesenergy; it also provides a sufficient back pressure in the outlet of thefirst fluid.

A general problem with the existing devices is that fouling in themembrane increases the resistance against permeation of the liquidthrough the membrane. As a consequence, a fixed pressure of the inletliquid provides a ratio between the first liquid and the second liquidwhich changes over time. This characteristic of the known devices isundesired. Firstly, the loading and thus the wear of the often veryexpensive membrane increases over time, and secondly, a specificconsumption of the first and/or second liquid requires over-dimensioningof the device when the membrane is new.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to enable a more constantcapacity of a liquid treatment apparatus and to enable a reduced wear onthe membrane. Accordingly, the invention, in a first aspect, provides anapparatus of the kind mentioned in the introduction wherein the drivestructure is adapted to provide a variable and synchronous speed of thepump element and the recovery element.

The inlet fluid must necessarily leave the separation structure eitherin the form of the first fluid or in the form of the second fluid. Sincethe supplied amount of inlet liquid is proportional to the rotation ofthe pump element and the drained amount of first liquid is proportionalto the rotation of the recovery element, the amount of liquid whichpermeates through the membrane, i.e. the second liquid, is determined bythe difference between the two amounts. Since the speed of the pumpelement and the recovery element is variable and synchronous, theinvention facilitates an easy way of varying the total flow of liquidthrough the separation structure without having to consider adjustmentsof the back pressure, or the invention may be utilised to provide afixed flow of liquid through the separation structure even though themembrane fouls over time.

The separation structure may e.g. be a filtration structure or a reverseosmosis structure of the known kind, i.e. comprising an inlet and anoutlet on one side of a membrane and an outlet on an opposite side ofthe membrane. Depending on the membrane, the separation could providepure water from saltwater or from contaminated water, or the separationcould provide a concentrated product from a less concentrated primaryproduce, e.g. concentrated juice from less concentrated juice.

The displacement pump may provide an essentially fixed geometricdisplacement relative to the rotation of the pump element. Suchcharacteristics are known from vane pumps, axial piston pumps, gerotorpumps, radial piston pumps and others. In contrast to centrifugal pumpsin which the ratio between the rotation and the amount of displacedliquid depends entirely on the backpressure, wing pumps and axial pistonpumps provide essentially the same amount for a given RPM taking onlythe efficiency into consideration. The efficiency is defined as anamount of the liquid which passes through the pressure recovery unit orthe displacement pump from an inlet to an outlet relative to a backflowof liquid in the opposite direction. Based on the efficiency of thepump, the amount of pumped liquid relative to the rotation to a certaindegree depends on the backpressure.

The pressure recovery unit could be of a similar structure as thedisplacement pump. In one embodiment at least one, and preferably boththe pump and the recovery unit are axial piston units, e.g. of the kinddisclosed in EP 0 774 073. The displacement pump and the pressurerecovery unit could also be combined into one unit.

The drive structure could be a regular electrically or hydraulicallydriven motor provided with control means for adjusting the rotationalspeed, e.g. a frequency converter for changing the rotational speed ofan AC motor. Alternatively, the motor could be a Frequency controlledmotor (FCM). The motor could be connected to one shaft which drives boththe pump element and the recovery element. In another embodiment, twoseparate motors drive the pump element and the recovery elementindividually. In this embodiment, the synchronisation between rotationsof the two elements could be established by a controller which controlsthe speed of the two motors. In another embodiment, the pump andrecovery unit could be integrated into one single unit which is drivenby one single motor.

The synchronising structure could provide a direct coupling between therotatable element of the displacement pump and the rotatable element ofthe pressure recovery unit to make the two elements rotate withidentical speeds, or the synchronising structure could provide a fixedratio between the RPM of one of the rotatable elements and the RPM ofthe other rotatable element.

The displacement pump and the pressure recovery unit may e.g. be of thekind which are lubricated by the operating liquid, i.e. with the liquidwhich is displaced through the pump or unit. In such a pump or unit, theefficiency depends on the RPM, and typically, the efficiency decreaseswhen the RPM increases. For a low number of RPM, the amount of liquidwhich passes through the pump or unit for each rotation is relativelylarge compared with the amount which passes through the pump or unit foreach rotation at larger RPM.

This effect may be utilised in a particularly advanced way by using adisplacement pump and a pressure recovery unit having a different changein efficiency for a change in the synchronised RPM. If, as an example,the efficiency of the pump unit decreases less than the efficiency ofthe pressure recovery unit for a specific increase in the synchronisedRPM, then the amount of the supplied inlet liquid decreases less thanthe amount of drained first liquid per rotation, and as a result, theamount of liquid which is forced through the membrane, i.e. the amountof the second liquid increases. In other words, this selection ofdisplacement pump and pressure recovery unit enables an increase in theratio of the second fluid to the first fluid by increasing RPM, and theratio between the first and second liquids may in general be controlledby varying the synchronous rotational speeds of the pump element and therecovery element.

In order to protect the membrane against overloading, the RPM could beadjusted based on a pressure which is measured in the separationstructure. As an example, the RPM could be adjusted based on a pressuredifference between pressure of the inlet liquid and pressure of thefirst liquid when it leaves the separation structure, or just on thepressure on the side of the membrane which faces the inlet and theoutlet of the first fluid.

Starting and stopping of an apparatus, in particular a reverse osmosisstructure may be undesirable since it typically reduces the lifetime ofthe membrane or at least reduces the time between necessary cleanings ofthe membrane. In order to reduce the number of starts and stops of theapparatus, the RPM could be adjusted based on consumption of one of thefirst and second liquids. In a desalination apparatus for providingfreshwater from saltwater or contaminated water, the RPM may be adjustedbased on the consumption of the freshwater, preferably to achieve aproduction of the freshwater which equals the consumption. Accordingly,the apparatus may comprise means for determining the consumption. Thiscould comprise a flow measuring structure inserted in a pipeline whichdrains the first and/or the second liquid away from the separationstructure, or it may comprise a level measuring structure in a buffertank which receives one or both of the first and second liquids.

To further protect the membrane against overloading and thus to increasethe lifetime of the apparatus or membrane or to increase the timebetween cleanings of the membrane, the apparatus may further comprise astart-up structure by which a maximum acceleration of the drivestructure and thus of the pump element and of the recovery element canbe specified. Accordingly, when the apparatus is switched on, it may beadjusted to start the rotation from zero RPM and to achieve its desiredspeed over a selectable interval, e.g. over 1 to 5 minutes, such as toachieve the desired speed after 3 minutes. This facilitates acontrollable increase of pressure in the separation structure and thusprotects the membrane against overloading.

In a second aspect, the invention provides a method of operating aliquid treatment apparatus comprising a separation structure with amembrane, an inlet for receiving an inlet liquid, a first outlet fordelivering a first liquid which has not passed through the membrane, anda second outlet for delivering a second liquid which has passed throughthe membrane, the treatment apparatus further comprising a displacementpump adapted to supply an amount of inlet liquid to the separationstructure proportional to the rotation of a pump element, and a pressurerecovery unit adapted to drain an amount of first liquid from theseparation structure proportional to rotation of a recovery element, themethod comprising driving the pump element and the recovery elementsynchronously at different speeds depending on consumption of a liquidwhich is received from the separation structure.

In a third aspect, the invention provides a method of operating a liquidtreatment apparatus comprising a separation structure with a membrane,an inlet for receiving an inlet liquid, a first outlet for delivering afirst liquid which has not passed through the membrane, and a secondoutlet for delivering a second liquid which has passed through themembrane, the treatment apparatus further comprising a displacement pumpadapted to supply an amount of inlet liquid to the separation structureproportional to rotation of a pump element, and a pressure recovery unitadapted to drain an amount of first liquid from the separation structureproportional to rotation of a recovery element, the method comprisingdriving the pump element and the recovery element synchronously atdifferent speeds depending on a pressure measured in the separationstructure.

In a fourth aspect, the invention provides a method of operating aliquid treatment apparatus comprising a separation structure with amembrane, an inlet for receiving an inlet liquid, a first outlet fordelivering a first liquid which has not passed through the membrane, anda second outlet for delivering a second liquid which has passed throughthe membrane, the treatment apparatus further comprising a displacementpump adapted to supply an amount of inlet liquid to the separationstructure proportional to rotation of a pump element, and a pressurerecovery unit adapted to drain an amount of first liquid from theseparation structure proportional to rotation of a recovery element, themethod comprising adjusting a pressure gradient in the separationstructure by adjusting an acceleration of a synchronous rotation of thepump element and the recovery element.

In a fifth aspect, the invention provides a method of operating anosmosis apparatus in an inverse mode comprising an osmosis structurewith a reverse osmosis membrane, an inlet adapted during normaloperation to receive saltwater, a first outlet for delivering a brinewhich has not passed through the membrane, and a second outlet fordelivering freshwater which has passed through the membrane, thetreatment apparatus further comprising a displacement pump adapted tosupply an amount of the saltwater to the reverse osmosis structureproportional to the rotation of a pump element, and a pressure recoveryunit adapted to drain an amount of the brine from the reverse osmosisstructure proportional to the rotation of a recovery element, the methodcomprising applying freshwater to the inlet and driving the pump elementand the recovery element synchronously at a speed which is lower than aspeed which is necessary for activating permeation of saltwater throughthe membrane. As an example, the apparatus may normally be operated at acertain RPM to provide permeation of saltwater through the membrane, andwhen freshwater is flushed through the structure, the apparatus isoperated at a speed in the range of 35-70 pct. of the speed duringnormal operation. Due to an osmotic pressure, the freshwater may destroybacteria which are collected in the membrane.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following, a preferred embodiment of the invention will bedescribed in further details with reference to the drawing in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a reverse osmosis apparatus according to theinvention,

FIG. 2 illustrates a ratio between RPM and displaced amounts of fluid bythe displacement pump and the pressure recovery unit, and

FIG. 3 illustrates the reverse osmosis apparatus in FIG. 1 including atank for collection of produced freshwater.

FIG. 1 illustrates schematically a reverse osmosis apparatus 1 forproviding freshwater from saltwater. The apparatus comprises twoseparation structures 2, 3 connected in parallel between an inlet pipe4, a first outlet pipe 5 for a first liquid, in this case brine, and asecond outlet pipe 6 for a second liquid, in this case freshwater. Eachseparation structure comprises a membrane 7, an inlet 8 for receiving aninlet liquid (in this case saltwater), a first outlet 9 for delivering afirst liquid (in this case brine with a relatively high saltconcentration), and a second outlet 10 for delivering a second liquidwhich is freshwater, i.e. water which has passed through the reverseosmosis membranes 7. The apparatus further comprises an axial pistondisplacement pump 11 which supplies the saltwater at a pressure of 60-70bar. A pressure recovery unit or pressure converter 12 located on theother side of the separation structures 2, 3 transfers the energy of thehigh pressure brine to the saltwater which enters the separationstructure. The pressure converter 12 and the pump 11 are driven via onecommon shaft 13 by a frequency controlled motor 14.

A first pressure sensor 15 measures the pressure in the inlet, and asecond pressure sensor 16 measures the pressure in the first outlet. Inone mode of operation, the RPM of the motor 14 and thus of the pump 11and the recovery unit 12 is controlled based on a pressure differencebetween the pressures measured by the first and second pressure sensors15, 16.

The pump graph 17 in FIG. 2 illustrates the ratio between the RPM (alongthe abscissa) of the pump 11 and the amount of liquid in litres perminute (along the ordinate), which is displaced into the inlet 8 by thepump 11. The recovery graph 18 illustrates the ratio between the RPM(along the abscissa) of the pressure converter 12 and the amount ofliquid in litres per minute (along the ordinate), which is displaced outof the first outlet 9 by the pressure converter 12. As indicated by thedifference in the inclination of the two graphs 17, 18, the efficiency,i.e. the amount of displaced liquid per minute related to the RPM, ofthe pressure recovery unit 12 and the pump 11 change differently for achange in the RPM. Since the inclination of the pump graph 17 is steeperthan the inclination of the recovery graph 18, an increase in RPMresults in an increase in the difference between the amount of liquidwhich enters through inlet 8 and the amount of liquid which drainsthrough the first outlet 9. Since the difference necessarily has todrain out of the separation structure through the second outlet 10, theincrease in the difference causes an increase in the amount of liquidper minute which permeates through the membrane 7, and thus an increasedproduction rate of freshwater. In FIG. 2, the recovery rate graph 19indicates the difference in inclination, and thus the recovery rate ofthe apparatus.

The output of the liquid treatment apparatus 1 may thus be controlled byvarying the RPM of the synchronised motion of the pump and of therecovery unit. The RPM can, as mentioned above be measured based on apressure in the separation structure, e.g. by using the two pressuresensors 15, 16 disclosed in FIG. 1, or as will be discussed relative toFIG. 3, based on consumption of freshwater.

FIG. 3 shows the apparatus of FIG. 1 in a more complete configurationincluding a tank 20 for collecting freshwater. The tank includes anupper level switch 21 and a lower level switch 22. In order to reducethe number of starts and stops of the apparatus, the level switches arelocated at a distance from the top and bottom, respectively. When theupper level switch is triggered, the tank therefore has additional spacefor freshwater. When the upper level switch is triggered, the RPM can bereduced until the freshwater level decreases to a lower level. In acorresponding manner, triggering of the lower level switch may cause anincreased RPM until the freshwater level gets above the lower limit. Inan alternative embodiment, a flow metre is inserted in the delivery pipe23 to measure a consumption of the freshwater, and the RPM is controlledto compensate for the actual consumption.

FIG. 3 further shows a second tank 24 which receives freshwater from theseparation structures 2, 3 when the valve k5 connects the conduit 25 tothe outlet pipe 6. In a similar manner, the valve k4 may connect ordisconnect the flow of freshwater to the tank 20. The outlet 26 of thetank 24 is connectable to the inlet pipe 4 via the switch s1. Whenfreshwater from the tank 24 is guided to the inlet of the reverseosmosis structures, the membrane and the area between the inlet and thefirst outlet are cleaned by an osmotic pressure which destroys microorganisms which may exist in the salt environment. When freshwater isguided through the reverse osmosis structure, it is not necessary tocreate permeation of water through the membrane but merely to flush themembrane. Accordingly, the pressure in the reverse osmosis structureduring this procedure may be lowered considerably relative to thepressure applied to activate the permeation of water through themembrane. In this respect, the variable and synchronous rotational speedof the pump element and recovery element is further advantageous sinceit facilitates an improved way of controlling the pressure in thereverse osmosis structure when changing from saltwater to freshwater.Typically, the RPM can be lowered to a range of 35-70 pct. of the RPMwhich is considered for activating the permeation of water through themembrane.

While the present invention has been illustrated and described withrespect to a particular embodiment thereof, it should be appreciated bythose of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications to thisinvention may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention.

1. A liquid treatment apparatus comprising: a separation structurecomprising a membrane, an inlet for receiving an inlet liquid, a firstoutlet for delivering a first liquid which has not passed through themembrane, and a second outlet for delivering a second liquid which haspassed through the membrane, a displacement pump adapted to supply anamount of inlet liquid to the separation structure proportional to therotation of a pump element, and a pressure recovery unit adapted todrain an amount of first liquid from the separation structureproportional to the rotation of a recovery element, wherein theapparatus comprises a drive structure adapted to provide a variable andsynchronous rotational speed (RPM) of the pump element and the recoveryelement.
 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the displacementpump provides an essentially fixed geometric displacement relative tothe rotation of the pump element.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 2,wherein the displacement pump is an axial piston displacement pump. 4.The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the displacement pump andthe pressure recovery unit have an identical structure.
 5. The apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the efficiency of the pressure recoveryunit and of the displacement pump changes with changing RPM.
 6. Theapparatus according to claim 5, wherein the efficiency of the pressurerecovery unit changes differently from the efficiency of thedisplacement pump for a change in the RPM.
 7. The apparatus according toclaim 6, wherein a recovery rate increases when the RPM increases. 8.The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the RPM is adjusted based ona pressure which is measured in the separation structure.
 9. Theapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the RPM is adjusted based on theconsumption of a liquid which is received from the separation structure.10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the liquid is the firstliquid.
 11. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the liquid isthe second liquid.
 12. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein theseparation structure is a reverse osmosis structure.
 13. The apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the separation structure is a filtrationstructure.
 14. The apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a start-upstructure for defining the acceleration of the drive structure.
 15. Theapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the displacement pump for afixed RPM provides a fixed ration between liquid displacement and RPM.16. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drive structurecomprises an electrically driven motor with variable RPM.
 17. A methodof operating a liquid treatment apparatus comprising a separationstructure with a membrane, an inlet for receiving an inlet liquid, afirst outlet for delivering a first liquid which has not passed throughthe membrane, and a second outlet for delivering a second liquid whichhas passed through the membrane, the treatment apparatus furthercomprising a displacement pump adapted to supply an amount of inletliquid to the separation structure proportional to the rotation of apump element, and a pressure recovery unit adapted to drain an amount offirst liquid from the separation structure proportional to the rotationof a recovery element, the method comprising driving the pump elementand the recovery element synchronously at different speeds depending onthe consumption of a liquid which is received from the separationstructure.
 18. A method of operating a liquid treatment apparatuscomprising a separation structure with a membrane, an inlet forreceiving an inlet liquid, a first outlet for delivering a first liquidwhich has not passed through the membrane, and a second outlet fordelivering a second liquid which has passed through the membrane, thetreatment apparatus further comprising a displacement pump adapted tosupply an amount of inlet liquid to the separation structureproportional to the rotation of a pump element, and a pressure recoveryunit adapted to drain an amount of first liquid from the separationstructure proportional to the rotation of a recovery element, the methodcomprising driving the pump element and the recovery elementsynchronously at different speeds depending on a pressure measured inthe separation structure.
 19. A method of operating a liquid treatmentapparatus comprising a separation structure with a membrane, an inletfor receiving an inlet liquid, a first outlet for delivering a firstliquid which has not passed through the membrane, and a second outletfor delivering a second liquid which has passed through the membrane,the treatment apparatus further comprising a displacement pump adaptedto supply an amount of inlet liquid to the separation structureproportional to the rotation of a pump element, and a pressure recoveryunit adapted to drain an amount of first liquid from the separationstructure proportional to the rotation of a recovery element, the methodcomprising adjusting a pressure gradient in the separation structure byadjusting an acceleration of a synchronous rotation of the pump elementand the recovery element.
 20. A method of operating an osmosis apparatusin an inverse mode comprising an osmosis structure with a reverseosmosis membrane, an inlet adapted during normal operation to receivesaltwater, a first outlet for delivering a brine which has not passedthrough the membrane, and a second outlet for delivering freshwaterwhich has passed through the membrane, the treatment apparatus furthercomprising a displacement pump adapted to supply an amount of thesaltwater to the reverse osmosis structure proportional to the rotationof a pump element, and a pressure recovery unit adapted to drain anamount of the brine from the reverse osmosis structure proportional tothe rotation of a recovery element, the method comprising applyingfreshwater to the inlet and driving the pump element and the recoveryelement synchronously at a speed which is lower than a speed which isnecessary for activating permeation of saltwater through the membrane.